A large rambutan tree creates shade as well as providing fruit for the house and the neighbourhood.

Ida built the house with the garden in mind, and plants have a home within the building and on the roof walkways as well.

There are food plants, a hydroponic setup, ornamentals, a hive of stingless bees – even a Eucalyptus and tulip bulbs being grown in a fridge to provide wintery conditions.

Ida experiments with everything. “I love every plant,” she says. She even got permission to cultivate the public park next door into garden space, and the many flowers and plants growing there provide a natural haven for butterflies.

She grows particular host plants on purpose, for example, lacewing vine for the Red Lacewing Butterfly.

An artist and educator, Ida shares photos of and information about her garden with a large online following.

She is keen to persuade others to each create a microclimate in their garden - no matter how small, it will combine with other gardens to form a larger microclimate that can reduce global warming and climate change.

“Gardening is not just planting but caring about the environment,” Ida says.

Featured species:

Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum)

Lacewing Vine (Adenia heterophylla)

Red lacewing butterfly (Cethosia biblis)